Mick Jenkins (rapper)

2012: Career beginnings, FreeNation, and mixtapes

On January 13, 2012, Mick released his first official mixtape, The Mickstape. In August 2012, he then released his second mixtape, titled The Pursuit of HappyNess: The Story of Mickalascage. These consecutive mixtapes included production from several record producers such as After the Smoke, Swisha House, Chris Calor, Quincy Banks, Chuck Inglish, Vanilla, and Dijon, among others. During 2012, Mick returned to Chicago and joined the YCA (Young Chicago Authors), poetry collective. This is where he would perform his first a cappella verse, which would feed some attention for the local recording artist and a leader of Chicago's Pivot Gang collective, Saba. The two then collaborated on the track, called Heaux, which was featured on Saba's mixtape GETCOMFORTable (2012).

Jenkins is a member of a hip-hop group, called Free Nation. Other members include Prop, J-Stock, Burman, and Maine The Saint. Free Nation is "a hip hop group that promotes creative thought without accepting narrow views imposed by the powers that be".

2013: Trees & Truths

In April 2013, Mick released a mixtape, titled Trees & Truths. The tape quickly became a local favorite, featuring acid jazz-influenced production, biblical allegory, and his lacerating lyricism. Only few months after its release, a collaboration between him and fellow Chicago rappers Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa came in the form of the single Crossroads, which garnered both attention and praise.

2014–2015: The Water[s] and Wave[s]

In July 2014, Mick received significant attention after the release of his single and a visual of Martyrs, which juxtaposed insight into harsh societal truths with a catchy hook. The thought-provoking single held various underlying messages and subtle notions. Martyrs has led to prominent figures in the hip-hop community such as Timbaland, to reach out and praise Jenkins for his musical talent and intricate lyricism. Mick continues to find creative ways to convey his message and on August 12 released his project The Water[s] to critical acclaim. Considered by many to be Jenkins' breakout project, The Water[s] is centered on the idea of comparing water to life's truths. Shortly after releasing the project, Jenkins announced he would be touring during the fall on the 2014 Smoker's Club World Wide Roller's Tour alongside Method Man, Redman, B-Real, Trademark da Skydiver, and Berner. He had his first official tour in February 2015 with Kirk Knight, Noname and Saba. He was on tour with Joey Bada$$ and Denzel Curry for Phase 1 of their World Domination Tour.

On July 20, 2015, Mick Jenkins announced an EP titled Waves, which was released on August 21, 2015. Mick Jenkins began streaming his new project in full via NPR's First Listen on August 13, 2015. Wave[s] is the follow up to Jenkins’ critically acclaimed 2014 mixtape, The Water[s]. For Wave[s], Mick continues to keep the collaborators confined to those within his inner circle. The project features the likes of Jean Deaux, Saba, TheMind and popular producers such as Kaytranada. Mick also accompanied French producer STWO on his North American tour from the end of August through the beginning of October.

2016–present: The Healing Component

On August 17, 2016, Mick Jenkins released the first single from his highly anticipated debut album, titled "Spread Love". The album, The Healing Component, was released on September 23, 2016. On August 25th, Mick released his second single of the album titled "Drowning" which features an instrumental performed by Toronto-based jazz quartet BADBADNOTGOOD. The song has a direct reference to the death of Eric Garner, a black man who was strangled by police.